Meaning (Philosophy)

Pilgrimages have produced volumes of textual reflections by pilgrims and
outside observers. These writers represent a wide variety of disciplines from travel
theorists to travel bloggers, medieval historians to modern anthropologists and
sociologists. The findings of this study reveal two major complex metaphor systems:
one based on a series of interlaced existential metaphors orbiting the nuclear LIFE IS A
JOURNEY and the other stemming from a network of economic metaphors of MORAL
ACCOUNTING. The symbolic exchange embedded in these metaphorical systems
reflects the human desire for a meaningful and worthy life. These mutually
supporting complex systems of metaphor reveal an existential connection between the
medieval pilgrim and the contemporary tourist.

Charles G. Finney’s 1936 novel The Circus of Dr. Lao was published to
enthusiastic reviews, but fell into relative obscurity shortly thereafter. Since its
publication, it has been the subject of one peer-reviewed critical essay, a number of
reviews, one non-peer-reviewed essay, and a master’s thesis. It was published in a world
where the fantastic and unique found only barren desert soil, with no scholarly tradition
for the fantastic, nor a widely receptive lay audience for something truly unique, or sui
generis. The concept of the sui generis, meaning “of its own kind,” provides a useful lens
for examining the novel, as Finney develops not only creatures, but people, which are
truly of their own kind, borrowing from existing mythologies, traits of humanity, and
aspects of nature, recombining them in a singular way which resists classification.